Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-12-25
SIGHTS IN ANJOU.
Place Where Early Kings
Lie Buried.
THE VALLEY OF THE LOIRE.
Tombs of Henry ii and Richard
ofthe Lion Heart-Green Fields
and Stately Ruins.

since nave seen SlnCe ieit tho ei.y
of Nantes. l got out of Brittany and
into Anjou at place called Amiens,
where there is very old church that
has a richly-carved exterior pulpit,
whence the village priest sometimes
blesses the cattle of his parishioners-
The department in which I am now
drifting, by railway, by river, and
now by turnpike road that runs
along the top of the levee OF the
Loire, all of those routes parallel to
each other, is Maine ct Loire. TWAS
out of this province that the Plantag-
enets of England came, and hard by
this town is the old abbey church
where the first of that royal race lies
ON his back in effigy and looks up at
the ceiling of modern prison. OF
course cannot go into the history OF
Aniou, but let me say there has been
hard fighting hereabout between
Catholics and Huguenots during
the religious wars, and that it
was but yonder where Cathe-
lieu, the carter, excited con-
scripts to revolt which was espoused
by Brittany gentlemen and became
the terrible Vandeean war in which
General Charette, grand uncle of the
noble zouave who married the daughter
of President Polk, took such active
part. These wars of faith and fury
came to an end in the town of Anglers,
and it was there where only yesterday
wandered in search OF the old if not
the beautiful. The Cathedral OF st.
Maurice is a wonderful building. 1t
has no flying buttresses, there is but one
aisle, there are no pillars supporting
the yaulted ceiling; the columns
are built into the solid walls. The
stained glass windows are splendid,
but the high altar of marble and its
choir of sculptured wood are fine and
graceful. The front of the main door
is ornamented with large statutes re-
presenting. Biblical characters,
also, statuettes of angels and
crowned old men. There is a
gallery over those wherein stands
an imposing array OF knightly person
ages in full armor. There are three
towers, two OF which have tall steeples
that were built in the early part OF
the sixteenth century. There are
many other ancient edifices built for
religious purposes, for Anglers has
been called town of churches, but
none of them begin to come up to the
cathedral in architectural beauty.
As tor the fortress chateau in which
good King Rene lived SO long and
reigned with such excellence when
Dukes OF Anjou ranked with royalty,
that is a pile worth visiting at any
time. The town lies on the decline of
lofty hill that stoopsto the edge OF
the Loire, and the ancient chateau
crowns this height. We pass over a
stout oak bridge that spans a moat
nearly a hundred feet broad and
thirty odd feet deep, which was
scooped out of the solid rock. The
walls are enormously thick; there is
y heavy portcullis at the entrance
gate, and no fewer than IL massive
round towers are placed here and
there along the ramparts of this once
great fortress. Built in alternate lay
ers of granite and slate stone, it has
a very sombre look that adds much
to the feudal appearance of the place.
Beyond the partcullis found COM
placent guardian, who threw off his
cobbler's apron, called to his wife
to hold the porte at all hazards
against any sudden attack, put on his
coat and hat, and then guided me
over the ramparts, into deep dungeons
and through thick towers until | had
explored the castle tolerably thor
oughly. According to his version,
such spot at the wall was where
young Arthur leaped to be dashed to
pieces on stones below as hard as his
uncle's heart, and he had never heard
the other legend that related to him,
of how it was his uncle's hand which
plunged poor Arthur in the dark wa
ters of the moat while the gray towers
rang with his drowning screams.
Whichever story may be the true one,
] was none the less inspired by awe as
Igazed ON those deathless walls that
looked as if no mirth had ever visited
them, and yet there were the ruined
walls behind my back OF as magnificent
banqueting hall as ever roysterers
of old held high revel in.
Of this fine chamber, the very door
of which gives against the prison en-
trance, nothing now remains except a
part of the facade and a grand old
chimney OF richly sculptured marble
but, strange to say, the adjoining dom
Jon tower is almost wholly intact. He
dragged me down into the horrid
place. l bent my body to get through
the door; stopped low to save my
head from the ragged ceiling Of the
ante-chamber we trod dark hall,
doubly barred with iron gates,
descended some risky steps, and en-
tered cave cooped out OF the
solid rock. Here so many men have
been chained at different times and
30 long to stone in standing
position that this natural wall has
been worn away by their constantly
rubbing shoulders to the depth OF
several inches! l was glad to escape
from such terrible sights and
recollections. From the top of
the battlemented walls my shoe
maker guide showed me outside the
fortress the house which used to be a
riding school, and where only the sons
of noblemen or of foreigners Of dis
tinction were taught to sit horse COR
rectly. Among the pupils arms still
preserved in the building, now occu-
pied as q barracks, are those of Pitt
and the Duke of Wellington, both of
whom we're scholars there. Then, in
quite another direction and far up the
river, he pointed out a dark round
tower that was erected by the first
Plantagenet that this world has ever
known, and when that founder of q
race of English kings built it he little
thought that the day would come
when Anglers washerwoman would
dry their linen on its thick walls, or
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